Lindell and his wife Elin Gerda had decided to emigrate to the USA. They got their certificate on 4 April 1912. According to some papers they had a child but that is not noted by register office at Raus, Helsingborg so it is probably a misunderstanding from the papers.

The couple were on their way from Helsingborg to the home of A. Petterson, 10 Smith St. Hartford, Connecticut. They boarded the Titanic at Southampton as third class passengers.

After the collision with the iceberg on April 14, 1912 Lindell and his wife met up with fellow Swedes August Wennerström and Gunnar Tenglin. As the ship sank the group struggled up the sloping deck until it was too steep and, clasping hands, they slid back down and close to Collapsible A.

Once the ship went under Wennerström and Lindell climbed into the boat. Wennerström saw Mrs Lindell in the water and grabbed her hand. Weakened by the cold he was unable to assist her further and after a while she drifted away. During the night according to Wennerström "Edvard's hair turned all gray in lesser time than 30 minutes". He died soon afterwards and lost Gerda's wedding ring which he had been holding. Neither his or Gerdas bodies were found, he was probably lowered overboard to make the unstable boat lighter.